In this article, Jakob Bund examines how authoritarian states like Russia, China, and North Korea increasingly harness non-state cyber actors to expand their capabilities, blur attribution, and complicate global responses. He argues that this growing fusion of state and criminal or contractor activity demands integrated threat assessments and response tools that can operate independently of political attribution.

In this article, Annegret Bendiek and Jakob Bund analyse how authoritarian states use hybrid state/non-state networks to challenge Europe through obfuscating responsibility and escalating conflicts; Bendiek and Bund argue that the EU must reform its cybersecurity policy under a “Janus Principle” to strengthen resilience, coordination, and strategic effectiveness.